DroidX Constant Boot Hang Issue

[SASteinhebel]

I recently had an issue with my original Droid X I purchased some time ago. The issue: Every so often - and totally random - the phone would reset itself. It would start back up and work just fine for a while. Then then it would occasionally lag and reset itself or I would be forced to pull the battery. Sometimes though, after it would restart, the boot process would hang and never get past the red-eye animation, and the screen would fade out and turn off. If I try to press the power button to turn on the phone...no dice - screen stays off. At this stage I was forced to perform a factory reset on the phone and start all over again.

I don't particularly mind too much about losing data as all of it was backed-up to Dropbox or other mediums, but the process of re-installing apps one after another is mind numbing. This cycle of factory resets happened a few times over the course of the year I had the phone and slowly became more frequent to where it occurred twice in a week. At this point, I called Verizon. I received a new (well, refurbished) phone through Verizon. I loaded everything my original Droid X had on it and was happy as a clam. Then the same issue happened. AGAIN. Earlier this morning I had to perform a factory reset on my new phone.

I honestly don't think the same thing could happen to two different phones...but I could be wrong. So my thinking has changed from the phone it's self to the apps, but I'm not sure.

Anyone have any feedback regarding this? Any help is appreciated.

 

[leftspin]

you could try an SBF: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-x-rooted-help/100038-complete-droid-x-sbf-flashing-guide.html

although like you said, since it happened to two different phones it could have something to do with the apps you have installed

 

[SASteinhebel]

you could try an SBF: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-x-rooted-help/100038-complete-droid-x-sbf-flashing-guide.html

although like you said, since it happened to two different phones it could have something to do with the apps you have installed

I tried an SBF once after I attempted to root my phone and bricked it. But I still had the same issues after I restored it, and performed a factory restore on it.

I'm curious though on what app could be the issue here. If anyone has insight into this, I welcome it...

 

[SASteinhebel]

So I decided to go into a Verizon store and let them know about the boot hang issue in addition to camera issue. The person who helped me at the store told me that my battery may be the cause of the constant reboot issues. They also said an app may be to blame and they can cause some instability on this particular phone. They asked if they could check out my apps to see if they could be the boot hang culprit; I agreed. Going through the list of apps on my phone they pointed out Dolphin, Lookout, and CraigsNotification.

I honestly don't understand how an internet browser can affect my phone to the point it would reboot and hang, and same for the Craigs Notification. But the Lookout she stated has the ability to act as a task killer, and I was under the impression Lookout was a security app designed to detect viruses and spyware and help you find your phone in case it gets lost. Can anyone corroborate this info?

As for the camera issue, there is a small piece of metal chipped off inside the camera shutter mechanism preventing the shutter from closing. This apparently causes washed out photos and will be solved once the phone is replaced...AGAIN.

I really want a new phone...sadly the one I want will come out on AT&T initially.

 

[debrad0307]

I had the same issue and an app called Bump was to blame. It started rebooting my phone randomly and I would also get the boot loop upon start up. Not too sure about Lookout. I have never used that program so the operation and/or configuration of it is like a foreign language to me. I do know that our phones have a built in "task killer" or "task manager". If the person at Verizon says Lookout has a task killer in it then it could be causing an issue. Don't quote me on that though. I'd start monitoring your running apps to see if there is anything using a lot of memory. You could also uninstall Lookout and see if that fixes the issue. I hope you get it taken care of. Good luck!

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[SASteinhebel]

I had the same issue and an app called Bump was to blame. It started rebooting my phone randomly and I would also get the boot loop upon start up. Not too sure about Lookout. I have never used that program so the operation and/or configuration of it is like a foreign language to me. I do know that our phones have a built in "task killer" or "task manager". If the person at Verizon says Lookout has a task killer in it then it could be causing an issue. Don't quote me on that though. I'd start monitoring your running apps to see if there is anything using a lot of memory. You could also uninstall Lookout and see if that fixes the issue. I hope you get it taken care of. Good luck!

Sent from my DROIDX

Think I may go ahead and uninstall it...I mostly liked it for the "security" but found it mostly useful for finding my phone if I lost it... They recommended "Where's My Droid" as an alternative. Just checked my running apps and Lookout consumes 27MB of RAM. OMG. Can't believe I didn't notice it before.

I definitely stay away from task killers as they caused significant system instability when I had one installed when I first got the phone a year ago. I heard a statement from a previous user of task killers once: task killers and apps that keep a certain amount of memory free essentially prevent that amount of RAM from being used. So 30MB saved = 30MB squandered and the total amount of memory in the phone fails to be utilized to its maximum potential. Once I heard that and started experiencing system issues with the task killer I was using, I factory restored.

One of the issues I hated with this issue too was how infrequently and randomly it would reset itself and boot loop, so it would be very difficult to track down apps that's are causing it. But I think I'll just err on the side of caution and remove Lookout and look into Where's My Droid.

Thanks for the info!

 

[debrad0307]

No problem. I hope that uninstalling Lookout helps. I've heard some good reviews on Where's My Droid but I haven't used it. If I loose my phone its just another excuse to get the Razr hahaha

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[leftspin]

the task killer is the problem! Android actually handles task management pretty well on it's own, so task managers and killers negatively effect performance a lot of the time. Uninstall Lookout and I have a feeling the random reboots will go away. I've never had a problem using Where's My Droid, but in combination with other apps it's possible for it to cause problems too

 

[khinnenkamp]

Droid X Hangs too frequently

I have the same problem with my Droid X. This week the Verizon technician showed me a more complete method of resetting my X by holding the home key down while pushing the power button and making menu selections to completely clear the phone. The problem returned shortly after I re-installed my apps, then got worse when I installed Quickoffice Pro yesterday. I do not use any third party app killers, so that is not the problem. This morning I had to take the battery out about 5 times and re-start the phone just to bring it up.

I suspect that getting a new Droid X won't solve the problem. The problem must be that droid applications don't play well with each other, or some don't play well on the Android operating system.
I wonder if Android users on non-Motorola phones have these issues? My wife doesn't seem to have the problem on her LG Aly, but she doesn't install that many apps.

Anyone else have this experience?

I recently had an issue with my original Droid X I purchased some time ago. The issue: Every so often - and totally random - the phone would reset itself. It would start back up and work just fine for a while. Then then it would occasionally lag and reset itself or I would be forced to pull the battery. Sometimes though, after it would restart, the boot process would hang and never get past the red-eye animation, and the screen would fade out and turn off. If I try to press the power button to turn on the phone...no dice - screen stays off. At this stage I was forced to perform a factory reset on the phone and start all over again.

I don't particularly mind too much about losing data as all of it was backed-up to Dropbox or other mediums, but the process of re-installing apps one after another is mind numbing. This cycle of factory resets happened a few times over the course of the year I had the phone and slowly became more frequent to where it occurred twice in a week. At this point, I called Verizon. I received a new (well, refurbished) phone through Verizon. I loaded everything my original Droid X had on it and was happy as a clam. Then the same issue happened. AGAIN. Earlier this morning I had to perform a factory reset on my new phone.

I honestly don't think the same thing could happen to two different phones...but I could be wrong. So my thinking has changed from the phone it's self to the apps, but I'm not sure.

Anyone have any feedback regarding this? Any help is appreciated.

 

[leftspin]

I have the same problem with my Droid X. This week the Verizon technician showed me a more complete method of resetting my X by holding the home key down while pushing the power button and making menu selections to completely clear the phone. The problem returned shortly after I re-installed my apps, then got worse when I installed Quickoffice Pro yesterday. I do not use any third party app killers, so that is not the problem. This morning I had to take the battery out about 5 times and re-start the phone just to bring it up.

I suspect that getting a new Droid X won't solve the problem. The problem must be that droid applications don't play well with each other, or some don't play well on the Android operating system.
I wonder if Android users on non-Motorola phones have these issues? My wife doesn't seem to have the problem on her LG Aly, but she doesn't install that many apps.

Anyone else have this experience?

I think you're right about the apps being the problem, but different phones work a little differently so apps that cause problems on one phone, like the Droid X, may not cause problems for the LG Ally.